Healing
by webbswoman
Summary: When Tess leaves Danny there's only one person he needs to see, but he doesn't quite get the welcome that he's expecting. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Oceans or any of the characters related to it. Happy Day's isn't mine either.**

**A huge thanks goes to Becca for betareading this for me. This is for you, for being with me right from the beginning!**

**A/N: I'm not totally sure if I've got the dialogue right, but I hope it's somewhere close to the movies.**

Danny rang the bell and waited for an answer. It came in the form of a loud thud and a groan. Two minutes later the door swung open and a very dishevelled Rusty blinked out at him.

"Tess?"

"Yeah. Isobel?" He received no answer as Rusty turned and headed back inside the hotel room. Danny followed him, looked around curiously and groaned. The room was messy; crumpled clothes had been slung haphazardly over the furniture, empty whisky bottles had been shoved into an old box and the bed covers had been thrown carelessly onto the floor. Anxiously, Danny looked even closer, searching for the sweet wrappers, chocolate and fast food containers that would tell him that Rusty was alright. There wasn't even a cookie in sight.

"That bad huh?" Danny slumped down next to Rusty on the bed.

"Yeah. What happened this time?" Danny knew that Rusty was trying to distract him, but he played along anyway.

"She told me that even Terry treated-"

"She said that? Ouch." Rusty reached for a half empty bottle of whisky and took a swig before handing it to Danny.

"Yeah. You?" Danny watched his reaction closely, saw the way Rusty half closed his eyes before answering.

"Well, I think even you must have treated her better than-"

"Rus?" He was more forceful this time. It was for Rusty's own good.

"Apparently I talk about you too much." Danny just managed to suppress the laughter, which quickly gave way to disbelief.

"She left because-"

"Yeah. In a roundabout sort of way." The whisky was passed back to Rusty, who took a long drink before setting it down on the floor. Danny turned to stare at the TV, and frowned. The channel was showing an old re-run of Happy Days.

"Rusty, you should have called me before it got this bad."

"I like Fonzie!" The protest had been expected, but Danny knew that it was given half-heartedly.

"You loved her?" It wasn't a statement; because Danny had never been totally sure, and that scared him. He waited patiently for an answer, watching as Rusty ran a finger over the corner of his mouth.

"I think I loved the idea of her. It hurts like-"

"I know."

"You love Tess." Rusty turned to face Danny, and Danny wondered, not for the first time, how Rusty could be so sure that he was right. The corners of Rusty's mouth twitched slightly, "I know you Danny."

"I love her. But-"

"It's never enough."

"Exactly." A few moments passed in silence, each man silently contemplating the other's love life. Then Danny reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a Hershey Bar. Rusty looked at it with longing, and then turned away.

"You want to explain Rus?"

"She told me that I eat too much junk," Rusty mumbled.

"And you listened to her? You listened to the girl who thinks you talk about-"

"I can go without the chocolate and the sweets and all the other junk, but I sure as hell can't-" Rusty trailed off, but Danny heard the unspoken words loud and clear.

"Thanks. Now have a Hershey." The chocolate bar was gone from his hand before he even realised that Rusty was moving. The only sound for the next couple of minutes was the crunching as Rusty devoured the treat.

"Tess'll take you back."

"I'm not sure I want to go back." He would never be this honest around anyone else, only Rusty.

"Well, that's-"

"Yeah. Looks like we're both single again." Danny watched as Rusty contemplated the statement, then shrugged.

"That might not-"

"I agree."

"How about Philly?" Danny looked pointedly at Rusty, "Okay then, not Philly. We could go-"

"No. Vegas?" A shake of the head from Rusty. "I hear Chicago's nice this time of year."

"Okay. Who-"

"Just us this time. Although we might need to talk to Reuben about some-"

"I can scrape together about a million. You can get at least three right?" Comprehension dawned, "She took all of it?"

"Apparently as Benedict's ex she's got every right to his money."

"Hmm, we'll have to talk to Reuben then." A few moments passed in silence, in which Danny ran through ideas in his head and Rusty waited patiently to fill in the details.

"How about Preston?"

"After what happened in Nashville?" Rusty looked incredulously at Danny, who grinned in response. It got the reaction he'd been hoping for.

The rich laughter that spilled from Rusty filled the room. His eye's lit up and he began to look like Rusty again. And Danny felt like the world was right once more.


End file.
